Chronicle on the Road: Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden, North Salem.

Exhibitions by Croton artists Liz and Michael Biddle and Jan Johnsen are currently featured at this relatively poorly known treasure just 40 minutes from Croton.

Photos by Michael Balter

Last month, when the Chronicle wrote about an exhibit that Croton landscape designer Jan Johnsen had on at the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden in North Salem, we had never visited this secluded treasure. So the Chronicle went on the road, as we sometimes do, to check it out.

When we got there on Sunday, we discovered to our surprise that a show by two other Croton artists—Liz Surbeck Biddle and Michael Biddle—had just opened that day. The couple, whose work spans from ceramics to frescoes, has shared a studio in Croton for more than fifty years. The exhibit, called “Creative Crosswinds,” continues until August 17.

The Hammond Museum was founded by Natalie Hays Hammond, the daughter of John Hays Hammond, a mining engineer, diplomat, and philanthropist, who together with Cecil Rhodes co-discovered South Africa’s famous King Solomon Mine. Natalie, a painter with her own long career, founded the Hammond Museum in 1957. She died in 1985, but the museum lives on.

The museum is also home to the Adams School of Art, which offers courses in art and ceramics. Offerings this summer include “Printing Without a Press,” “Acrylic Painting Techniques,” and “Advanced Glazing;” and for families, “Mud Ball: Parent & Child Hand Building” and “Clay Day: Parent & Child Wheel.”

Jan Johnsen’s exhibit, “The Art of Stillness: Japanese Garden Principles in Focus,” continues until July 20.

Video by Catherine Kendall

Creative Crosswinds by Croton’s Liz and Michael Biddle

Work by Liz Biddle (left) and Michael Biddle (right)

In the studios of the Adams School of Art.

Photo by Catherine Kendall

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